It turns out that WWE had plans to do a big storyline involving Charlotte Flair on the Raw brand.
Dave Meltzer noted on a recent episode of Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE had been building towards a long-term rivalry between Flair and Raw Women’s Champion Asuka.
Per the report, this is the reason why WWE kept Flair strong in her booking while she was the NXT Women’s Champion. During her latest title reign, she never lost to any NXT stars by pinfall.
Flair ended up dropping the title to Io Shirai at NXT TakeOver: In Your House, but it was Rhea Ripley who was defeated. Prior to losing the championship, she had been working all three WWE brands – Raw, NXT, and SmackDown.
WWE quickly moved her to Raw full-time where she set her sights on the Raw Women’s Title.
This led to the two stars working some matches on Raw. Plans had to be changed once Flair took a hiatus from WWE in order to undergo surgery. WWE wrote Flair off television by doing an injury storyline with Nia Jax.
There had been mixed reports as to how long she would be gone, but the daughter of WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair recently confirmed that she will only be gone from the company for a few weeks.
